Caicun Zhou
Principal investigator of HARMONi-2, the trial where ivonescimab beat pembrolizumab head-to-head, and of the first EGFR-TKI phase 3 in Chinese patients.
Caicun Zhou led OPTIMAL (erlotinib vs chemotherapy), one of the first trials to prove EGFR-TKI superiority, and two decades later HARMONi-2, the first trial to beat pembrolizumab on progression-free survival in first-line NSCLC.
For the first time a new drug has beaten pembrolizumab, the global first-line standard, in a randomised lung cancer trial, and it did so by combining checkpoint blockade with anti-angiogenesis in one molecule. For patients outside China nothing changes yet: the drug is not approved in the West, the trial was single-country, and survival benefit has not been shown. If confirmed in the global HARMONi-3 and HARMONi-7 trials, PD-1 x VEGF bispecifics could replace PD-1 antibodies as the immunotherapy backbone.
Anyone diagnosed with advanced lung cancer should have EGFR testing before treatment, because osimertinib as the first drug gives the longest disease control, protects the brain, and is well tolerated. Chemotherapy is not the first step for these patients. The remaining questions are whether to intensify upfront (adding chemotherapy or amivantamab) and how to treat resistance when it develops.
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not linked directly; found by shared links- PersonWenfeng Fang
Shares Akeso, Ivonescimab, VEGF / VEGFR, PD-1.
- CompanySummit Therapeutics
Shares HARMONi-2: ivonescimab, a PD-1 x VEGF bispecific, beats pembrolizumab head-to-head in PD-L1-positive lung cancer, Ivonescimab, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- PersonJean-Charles Soria
Shares FLAURA: osimertinib as first treatment for EGFR-mutated lung cancer, EGFR, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- TrialHARMONi-3
Shares Ivonescimab, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- ProductPenpulimab
- PersonShun Lu
Shares EGFR, PD-1, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- ProductCadonilimab
- PersonYuichiro Ohe
Shares FLAURA: osimertinib as first treatment for EGFR-mutated lung cancer, Non-small-cell lung cancer.